Systems have been proposed to automatically measure the fluid delivered to a patient and fluids expelled or taken from a patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,692, for example, discloses and IV drop counter, a urine drop counter, and a microcomputer controlling an infusion pump. U.S. Pat. No. 7,029,456 discloses a “networked” system with no less than four separate units. See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,026 disclosing separate load scales and a control unit primarily used for dialysis.
In a cath lab, for example, a patient has a contrast agent injected into his veins, the patient's vessels are imaged, and a therapy is administered, e.g., a stent or the like is inserted into the patient. After this procedure, the contrast agent will collect in the patient's kidneys. The toxic nature of these contrast agents are well documented as is contrast nephropathy. See corresponding application Ser. No. 10/936,945 published as Published Patent Application No. 2006/0052764 incorporated herein by this reference.
Also, during cardiac surgery, the patient may be administered a fair amount of fluid. After surgery, a diuretic may be administered and the nurse instructed to allow the patient to expel urine at a rate greater than fluid administered to the patient (e.g., drugs, nutritional supplements, saline, sodium bicarbonate, and the like). Managing this prescribed fluid balance can be difficult and time consuming.